Lacanau & Le Porge · France
Surfing Carcans-Plage
A beach break in Lacanau & Le Porge, France, for intermediate and advanced surfers.
Carcans-Plage is a quiet beach north of Lacanau, with dunes and pine forest running down to the sand. It picks up the same groundswell as the rest of the Gironde coast, with far fewer people.
Local contests have been held here for years. It's an easy drive from Lacanau or Bordeaux.
It's at its best in autumn, on a clean groundswell with an easterly wind. In summer there are lifeguards, a few cafés and a campsite behind the dunes, and the lake of Carcans-Hourtin, a few minutes inland, is a good place to swim on flat days.
When to surf
Carcans-Plage
Carcans-Plage is at its best from September to April. Conditions it likes: Clean groundswell, all tides.
October to March: Prime
Consistent, powerful groundswell, quiet off-season
April to June: Good
Reliable swell, milder crowds
July to August: Quiet
Smaller swell, busy beaches, Lacanau Pro in August
The year across Gironde
Waves near Carcans-Plage
Getting there
Where to stay: Lacanau-Océan is the surf town, with hostels, apartments and a big campsite behind the dunes, and everything shut down a little outside summer. Le Porge is quieter, with a wild beach and fewer places to stay. Carcans-Plage, to the north, is a small alternative to Lacanau.
Transport, costs, where to stay and the rest of the waves in the area are in the Lacanau & Le Porge guide.
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